Appalachian School of Law Scaling Back

Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Va., announced this week that it will downsize its incoming class of students and tighten its budget because of the national decline in law school applicants, TriCities.com reports. Law school dean Lucy McGough said yesterday that they will whittle down class sizes until they're more in line with the number accepted when the school opened about 16 years ago, which was about 150 to 200 students. The school also stated a desire to return to its local roots. "[We're] returning to a smaller school because that's probably closer to our mission in any event," McGough said.